A Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A-2017)

“Trick or treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat.” I must admit, I never really understood that little Halloween diddy. Why would I want to give anyone something good to eat after they told me to smell their feet? Or was smelling their feet the trick if I don’t give them something good to eat?

It really does not matter, but it does indicate that we are at that time of year again when kids -- both young and old -- will be dressing up in costumes, trolling for candy and other treats. It is the season of ghosts, witches, and other scary characters. It is also the time a year when priests frequently get asked the question, “Is Halloween a satanic holiday? And, should I allow my children to participate in Halloween?”

It is true, that some of the roots of Halloween comes from an old Druid pagan holiday celebrated in Ireland and England. October 31st was the night in which the spirits of the dead returned home. However, like so many former pagan holidays, Halloween was “baptized” by the Church. The name “Halloween” actually comes from the English phrase, “all Hallows Eve,” on the evening before the Solemnity of All Saints, when we celebrate all those Christians who went before us, living a heroic life of discipleship and now enjoy the eternal paradise of Heaven. The custom of dressing up comes from an old practice of dressing up as one’s patron saint for the celebration. So, as long as we celebrate it in good fun and not hurt anybody in the process, let’s enjoy the celebration. It does, however, give us reason to pause and ask ourselves if we have made religion more “trick” or more “treat.”

What really made Jesus upset and angry was how the religious leaders in his day burdened people with endless distinctions between God’s commandments in the Torah. They argued over the 613 precepts in the Torah: 248 do’s and 365 don’ts. Of course, the don’ts usually won out over the do’s.

Not all the Pharisees in Jesus’ time were connivers. Most of them were sincere and good people who kept faith alive in Israel during its darkest hours. But there were some like the legal theologian in today’s Gospel who were more concerned with trick than treat. The legal theologian came to Jesus that day in order to play “Gotcha.” For this man, religion had become a game, a clever debate, a way to put the other down.

Jesus’ answer to the question “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” is at once masterful and orthodox. He reminds the Pharisee that Deuteronomy (6:5) says, “Love … God with all your heart.” But he also combines this with what was found in the book of Leviticus: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus doesn’t throw out the 613 commandments; he simply says that all of the commandments hang on the Greatest Commandment: love of God and love of neighbor.

There are still a lot of people today who seem to want to make religion more into trick than treat. They want to play the “Gotcha” game to see if you have the Bible memorized. While it is very important to know our Faith -- to study the Bible and the Catechism -- we also should keep in mind what the great Protestant theologian, Karl Barth, said when asked what was the most important truth he had learned in his theological study. Barth simply said, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
God invites us to the treat of the banquet today: the Eucharist. “The Eucharist helps us as a community to know that the whole law is not about rules but about love, about really loving God and one’s neighbor, not about figuring out how to avoid stepping on cracks in the legal sidewalk. The Eucharist helps us to have a whole new way of looking at our religion so that it never becomes a trick, so that it never gets in the way of our relationship with God and one another [Waznak, R. P. (2004). Religion: Trick or Treat?: Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time. In Lift up Your Hearts: Homilies for the “A” Cycle (p. 290). New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.]”